The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1887-10-20

- nanny i'ssJ VII tLic ISikSs ESEIHc-JShCS
About Bin:cn. Pair isinyen''-IsaoGe-
lscr, the Guide Dock N:an-Thc Great
Cathedral at Coios,1,s.
Special Correspondence
COLOGNE, Germany, Oct 2-Sincc our
departure from Berlin we have been starring
tho provinces on the one night stand system,
and have slept i'll more different beds, at
longer range between beds, than cvor before
III the whole course of my natural existence:
and this suggests to me {; few remarks Oh
continental beds.
| haven't seen bed big enough for two
since left London, and whether they have
such things on the continent or not | don't
know. Dickey and always get q room with
two beds i'll it, and the hcdstcads have invar-
ably been these little narrow ones which
have to be shovel up against tho wall in
order to reduce onc-h;iif the chances of roll
ing out on the floor during the night. In
America We would call thcln lounges, and
they are of q style Of architecture prevalent
principally i'll remote districts; where East
lake and Queen Anne have not ye5 made Il
pilgrimage. Occasionally the plain wooden va
rlety fines q substitute i'll the wrought iron
style, which admits of little decoration but
winch also suggests the horrid suspicion that
iron alone ca1i Withstand The rapacity of GER
tam occupants of beds which do not pay for
their lodging and which do net cet lp in the
morning and go down stairs to breakfast. I'd
TO date, however, We have not Lccn troubled
III this way, and furthermore We have ALWAYS
found everything clean and sweet and dry.
Tho similarity of tho apparel of beds in
France, Italy, Switzerland and Germany is
rather
mattresses on springs, Il wedge shaped pillow
between them and two pillows on TOP, OF.
sometimes pillow with q bolster as round as
saw log and nearly as hard The pillows
are square always, and sometimes they arc -
heavy as sand bags. Iii the matter of cover,
blanket OF quilt, q coTerlet and a Young
feather bed are tie usual articles evc,
i'll summer time. We mover have hcc,, able
to sleep under the feather bed, though,
and 1t is chucked away in the corner The
only departure from the above rule Of bed
dress was in one or two hotels, whclc the top
sheet was sewed up into o BAG. bslttcrctl at
the open end and quilt or blanket placed III
side of it, The nights were quite cool whom
we found this contraption, and il was rot so
untavorablc as it might otherwise have been.
l couldn't find out why Tho bag sheet orc
vailed. presume though, it was to give the
guest choice, in case she didn't like the side
next to her In making the bed; observed
one thing never saw in an American hotel.
namely, that the chambcrmaid always
tucked the cover we'll in at the foot If
there's anything do dislike, it is to wake Up
in the middle of the night with my feet tut
ting out into the chilly air and all the cover
twisted around my neck, like a horse blanket
around The feet of a runaway nightmare
We came to this town from Mayence by
way of the Rhine, as all well regulated
travellers do, making the trip in eight hours
and raiIstOrm. We left at o'clock. and
the rain came about ten minutes earlier than
that, and tho only time it let up was about
noon, when we were down in the cabin at
dinner and didn't care how hard it came
down. L have seen a good many different
kinds of pictures of Rhine scenery, but this
was the first genuine water color that had
come under my notice, and | take great
pleasure III recommending it to universal con-
demnation. After leaving Niaycncc the show
doesn't really begin until VIC reach Bingcn,
and when we did reach Bingen | think am
perfectly safe in saying that twenty-five out
OF every twenty four persons on deck showed
their dripping umbrellas over SO that the
water could trickle down their neighjo.s
backs and remarked something about Bin
gen. Fair Blngcn on the Rhine" 1t sounded
little monotonous, hut felt that our country
mcn abroad We're showing tho ulitutcrcd ma
tons that They knew tho ancient classic
poetry indigenous to that soil, and l said Just
what the others did: 'Bingen, Fair Bingcn
on tho Rhine" will say, however, that there
is considerable license in that poetry, and if
Bingc:. vas ever extra fair, il was before she
was Is Cd ;:5 she is now. After Bingen,
few drilling, sloppy jokes began to float
around among tho umbrellas and their I'M
derlings Misery loves company, and the
bad weather couldn't possibly have been
Lonesome" with these jokes filling the air
Under the circumstances of our trip down
the Rhine, l hardly think 1 am competent to
''criticise the scenery Or compare it with
that Of other rivers.
Dickey says newspaper Traveller that can't
''criticisc scenery" should take u few lessons
from landscape gardener. We never heard
OF criticsin.s scenery till last week, when 9
Chicago woman told us that Lcr husbands
''criticisms of the Alps and Swiss scenery
wero perfectly magnificent, and so true to
nature, tooI'
Our day on the river was not conducive to
the cultivation of the Muse, but Dickey shook
out this poem, and I put it in to fill up
with:
Der all the wide and winding: Rhine
That day no ray Of sun did shine;
The castled cra@ of DraclcnfeIs
The queen of all the river sweIls
Was yelled benea ii misty net
Whose every fold was dripping wet;
The Lorele whose song has slain
Her sailor lovers from the main
Hid in her mountain, near its top,
Was waiting for the rain to stop;
Tall Sooneck's tower and Stahlecks walls,
The Steegcr and the Butcher ThalS,
Were covered with STROUD of dew,
Which mortal eye could not pierce through;
The mighty Rheinfels, built to last,
Hid where the rain fell mighty fast;
And Stcrrenberg and Lebenstein,
The well known Brothers of the Rhine,
Had told their legend, with sigh,
And gone behind the clouds to dry;
The Mouse, the Cat, and Roland's Arch
Had lost their last remaining starch,
And hung upon tho cIifty Rhine
Like last weeks wash upon tho line.
And SO from Mayencc to Cologne,
By way of Bingen, boat and Bonn,
The castles, crags and winding stream
Wero passed as iE misty dream,
And all we know of scenes so fair
Is that the guide book says they're there;
But this we know, and this we say,
Don't Rhine it on n rainy day.
/ don't think Dickey is very great poetess
but she can tell the truth like a tinkling cym-
bal.
Speaking about what guide books say, our
constant companion has been Baedekers,
which is tho champion, and when was in
Leipsig thought I'd go and SEQ what kind
of man it was who is the best known to
travellers of all Europeans, and probably the